Rose-Hulman to enter Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference
By Tom Daeger, HCAC sports information director
April 13, 2005
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology athletics Web site
GREENWOOD, Ind. – The Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference has announced that Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology will join the membership beginning in the 2006-07 academic year. Rose-Hulman, located in Terre Haute, Ind., will return to the conference after spending the past seven years affiliated with the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference.
“The HCAC is very pleased to welcome Rose-Hulman as a new member to our athletic association,” said Tom Bohlsen, commissioner of the HCAC. “Rose-Hulman is an ideal NCAA Division III institution in that it has a respected and renowned academic profile, a sound Division III athletic program, and a philosophy that properly blends these two entities in a manner that enhances its student-athletes’ total collegiate experience.”
“At the same time, Rose-Hulman is joining a similar group of institutions who highly value this proper blending of these worthy values and who are providing superior athletic competition in a stable and healthy environment,” said Bohlsen.
Rose-Hulman is a nationally renowned engineering, mathematics and science institution founded in 1874. The Engineers provide 22 varsity athletic programs for their enrollment of 1,904 students.
The addition of Rose-Hulman marks the first change in membership for the HCAC since Transylvania University joined the conference in 2001. Rose-Hulman will be centrally located in a conference that also includes Anderson University, Bluffton University, Defiance College, Franklin College, Hanover College, Manchester College, and the College of Mount St. Joseph.
“We are delighted to welcome Rose-Hulman ‘back home’ to the heartland of athletic competition,” added James G. Moseley, president of Franklin College and chair of the HCAC Presidents Council. “We look forward to the renewal of some long-standing rivalries between our institutions.”
| Geographic Distance Rose-Hulman to HCAC member institutions | |
| Anderson 121 Bluffton 264 Defiance 246 Franklin 87 |
Hanover 171 Manchester 180 Mt. St. Joseph 177 Transylvania 257 |
Rose-Hulman had previously been affiliated with the HCAC from 1988-1998 when the conference was known as the Indiana Collegiate Athletic Conference. During its time with the ICAC, the Engineers captured four conference championships in men’s golf, men’s basketball and baseball. Rose-Hulman also garnered the men’s ICAC all-sports championship in the 1995-96 academic year.
“Participating in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference helps our student-athletes spend more time in class, while competing with great schools closer to our campus,” said John J. Midgley, president of Rose-Hulman. “Our new conference affiliation will also make it easier for the families of our student athletes to attend away games.”
The HCAC currently sponsors 17 championships in men’s and women’s athletics. Beginning in the 2006-07 academic year, Rose-Hulman will be competing in each of these sports. The Engineers will complete their schedule requirements with the SCAC during the 2005-06 academic year, according to Rose-Hulman Athletic Director Jeff Jenkins.
“Rose-Hulman will blend perfectly into the stable and harmonious institutional and athletic relationships the members of the HCAC respect, enjoy and treasure,” added Bohlsen.
